Pathology Report: PTSD

Imagine this; you’re walking down the street minding your own business when all of a sudden a car slips on the ice, slides through the intersection and crashes into another vehicle. You hear screeching tires and a loud BANG! You are on the sidewalk far from any real danger but you notice your hands are balled into fists, you are ready to run, your blood is pumping, and your respirations are increasing. You become very aware of your surroundings, planning your exit strategy. Everyone involved in the car accident is unharmed. The drivers are tending to each other, exchanging information and the scene is under control. You realize that even though you were in danger, you feel like you were a part of the accident.

Fight or flight, sometimes referred to the “acute stress response” or hyperarousal, is our bodies natural response to dangerous mental or physical stimulus. On an involuntary physiological level, our bodies deploy a series of changes in order to get us out of danger or give us the means to fight in the face of that danger. It is theory that our early ancestors developed this response because of the amount of danger they encountered in their day to day lives; things we don’t typically experience in our day to day lives anymore. Although our lifestyles have drastically changed since the early days, the response is still intact.

Our sympathetic nervous system signals for stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline to be released into the body. These hormones cause side effects like increased heart rate and respirations so that we can have lungs full of air to either run away or fight. Our blood vessels constrict in our extremities and dilate so that the blood is being pumped to primarily to our muscles to give them the power to deal with the situation at hand. Our pupils dilate and we get tunnel vision in order to focus our brains on what is directly in front of us. Typically, after the danger has passed our bodies start to return to normal. This is called the relaxation response, during which all of the symptoms of fight or flight start to decrease and our bodies can recover.

However, in some instances, we are simply unable to convince our brain that the perceived threat is gone. Whenever a person continues to experience the symptoms of the acute stress response for a prolonged period of time they may develop post traumatic stress disorder, PTSD. Anyone can develop PTSD and it can manifest after any kind of emotionally or physically traumatic event. Some examples of things that can cause PTSD are the sudden death of a family member, sudden changes in lifestyle, being robbed, earthquakes and other natural disasters, war, poverty, physical and emotional abuse or neglect. It is thus far impossible to determine why certain people develop PTSD and why others do not.

There is no real way to say how long someone with PTSD will continue to feel the way they do. Diagnosing physicians and mental health workers do have guidelines for what qualifies as PTSD, such as the symptoms having to be disruptive to day to day life and they have to last over an extended period of time. There are two main treatments for PTSD, according to Western medicine, is medication and psychotherapy.

Through the lense of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), things are broken down in a completely different way. Chinese medicine looks at the person as not just their physical body, but their mental and spiritual health as well. If one is unbalanced, an unbalance among the rest is sure to exist. It is known in TCM that a happy healthy harmonious flow of Qi (Chi) is the key to a happy healthy harmonious person. In Western medicine we call this homeostasis. When the body, mind, and spirit experience trauma, that harmony, or homeostasis is interrupted and the person is susceptible to pathogens and other ailments that can cause things like insomnia, anxiety, and depression for example. It is the unbalance that breaks down our defenses thus allowing these things to manifest in our physical bodies as well as our emotions. The end result is diagnosed and given a name. In TCM, practitioners seek to restore the balance and give the physical body the strength and will from the mind and spirit to protect the whole body-mind-spirit. While there is no single diagnosis that mirrors PTSD in its entirety, TCM does have treatments for all of the major symptoms and side effects of PTSD. Anxiety, insomnia, depression, anger, body aches, loss of appetite, have a place and a treatment in TCM.

One of the ways in which alternative medicine can be used to treat the symptoms of PTSD is through massage. Massage is an intervention, where PTSD is a constant whirlwind of stimulation. We often isolate ourselves from others and disconnect our minds from our bodies in an attempt to live with the effects of trauma. Massage is an excellent aid in reconnecting the mind to the body and is one way to build a trusting relationship with another person through safe touch; all  of which are very important tools for resolving trauma. Massage has been proven to help lower levels of physical pain, loosen tight muscles and joints, and increase the flow of nutrient rich blood all around the body. In combination with other treatments, massage can be an excellent aid in treating and curing post traumatic stress disorder.

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